Behavioral profiling with actionable feedback methodologies and systems

ABSTRACT

Behavioral profiling with actionable feedback methodologies and systems is provided. Benchmarking of profiles against empirical data can be utilized to determine areas of weakness in profiles or asymmetries relative to a benchmark. Feedback methodologies allow for optimization of individualized profiles and re-evaluation of behavioral profiling based on empirical data, as well as optimal profile grouping.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation-In-Part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 15/069,802 filed on Mar. 14, 2016 which claims the benefit andpriority of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/133,769, filed on Mar.16, 2015; this application also claims the benefit and priority of U.S.Provisional Application No. 62/928,681 filed on Oct. 31, 2019. Thedisclosures of the aforementioned applications are hereby incorporatedby reference herein in their entireties, including all references andappendices cited and incorporated therein.

BACKGROUND Field of the Invention

The present disclosure is related in general to behavioral profiling,and more specifically, but not by limitation to systems and methods thatutilize databases and identify asymmetries in profiles, and remediatethe same using actionable feedback methodologies.

SUMMARY

According to some embodiments, the present disclosure is directed to amethod that comprises: (a) creating database records that comprise aninnovation profile for a plurality of individuals, the innovationprofile being indicative of an innovation score for each of theplurality of individuals, wherein the innovation score is a composite ofan entrepreneur score and an intrapreneur score; (b) identifying aportion of the plurality of individuals having an innovation score thatdoes not meet or exceed an innovator benchmark score or generalpopulation score; (c) generating feedback that improves the innovationscore for the portion of the plurality of individuals that does not meetor exceed an innovator benchmark score or general population score; (d)re-evaluating the innovation profile for the plurality of individuals;(e) updating database records with the re-evaluated innovation profiles;and (f) generating a report for a manager of the team when theinnovation profile for the plurality of individuals in the team meets orexceeds the innovator benchmark score or the general population score.

According to some embodiments, the present disclosure is directed to amethod that comprises: (a) a step for creating database records thatcomprise an innovation profile for a plurality of individuals in a team,the innovation profile being indicative of an innovation score for eachof the plurality of individuals, wherein the innovation score is acomposite of an entrepreneur score and an intrapreneur score; (b) a stepfor identifying a portion of the plurality of individuals havinginnovation scores that do not meet or exceed an innovator benchmarkscore or general population score; (c) a step for generating feedbackthat improves the innovation score for the portion of the plurality ofindividuals that does not meet or exceed an innovator benchmark score orgeneral population score; (d) a step for re-evaluating the innovationprofile for the plurality of individuals; (e) a step for updatingdatabase records with the re-evaluated innovation profiles; and (f) astep for generating a report for a manager of the team when theinnovation profile for the plurality of individuals in the team meets orexceeds the innovator benchmark score or the general population score.

According to some embodiments, the present disclosure is directed to asystem that comprises: (a) a memory for storing instructions; and (b) aprocessor for executing the instructions to: (i) (a) provide aninnovation profile assessment to a plurality of individuals accessiblethrough a web browser interface; (b) create database records thatcomprise an innovation profile for the plurality of individuals; (c)assigning to an individual a skill type selected from ideator,optimizer, visualizer, and influential, based on the innovation profile;(d) generating a team from individuals of the plurality of individualsby: (i) receiving a project type selected from commercial innovation,incremental innovation, and breakthrough innovation, wherein the projecttype is associated with innovation skill groups; and (ii) automaticallyselecting the team by matching roles assigned to the individuals againstthe innovation skill groups of the project type by querying the databaserecords.

According to some embodiments, the present disclosure is directed to amethod that comprises: (a) testing a sample of participants to determineeach participant's aptitude for at least one innovation skill; (b) basedon the testing, generating at least one question predictive of arespondent's aptitude for the at least one innovation skill; (c)administering the at least one question to the respondent; (d) analyzingthe respondent's response to the at least one question; (e) scoring therespondent's aptitude for the at least one innovation skill; and (f)based on the scoring, determining whether the respondent should be ateam member and for what role the member is best suited.

According to some embodiments, the present disclosure is directed to amethod that comprises: (a) interviewing a sample of successfulinnovators to identify a set of characteristics of the innovators; (b)based on the interviewing, generating at least one question predictiveof a respondent's aptitude for at least one innovation skill; (c)administering the at least one question to the respondent; (d) analyzingthe respondent's response to the at least one question; (e) scoring therespondent's aptitude for the at least one innovation skill; and (f)based on the scoring, determining whether the respondent should be ateam member.

BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, where like reference numerals refer toidentical or functionally similar elements throughout the separateviews, together with the detailed description below, are incorporated inand form part of the specification, and serve to further illustrateembodiments of concepts that include the claimed disclosure, and explainvarious principles and advantages of those embodiments.

The methods and systems disclosed herein have been represented whereappropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only thosespecific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments ofthe present disclosure so as not to obscure the disclosure with detailsthat will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the arthaving the benefit of the description herein.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of an example method for creating a survey inaccordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of an example method for analyzing plurality ofindividuals in a team for innovation skills.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a feedback method implemented within a profilersystem of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a method of generating an innovation scorereport for an individual.

FIG. 5 is a screenshot of an example graphical representation of aninnovation score, innovator benchmark score, and general populationscore.

FIGS. 6A and 6B collectively illustrate a sample report that can betransmitted along with the graphical representation of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is an example graph that illustrates an individual's scorescompared against benchmark values.

FIG. 8 is an example matrix that represents selections by a profilersystem of an optimal innovation team, selected in accordance with thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of an example method of the present disclosure.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of an example computer device that can beutilized to implement aspects of the present technology.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to behavioralprofiling with actionable feedback methodologies and systems.Benchmarking of profiles against empirical data can be utilized todetermine areas of weakness in profiles. Feedback methodologies allowfor optimization of individualized profiles and re-evaluation ofbehavioral profiling based on empirical data.

According to some embodiments, a profiler system can implement analgorithm that considers an individual's responses to various surveyquestions for each role (entrepreneur, intrapreneur, champion, andimplementer) and for each of eight skill clusters and 26 sub-clusters.The algorithm includes assigning weights to each of these questionsbased on how well they differentiate the individual versus generalpopulation scores, and how well the scores correlate with businessresults (project types). The algorithm implements an acquiescence filterthat detects and adjusts for an individual's high inclination to agreewith all questions, even reverse-coded questions that flags and adjustsfor individuals answering in such a way as to conform to generallydesirable social traits (expectations or norms).

The results are automatically converted to an index. The “InnovatorBenchmark” is calculated as the median score for the Top 30% ofinnovators. In some embodiments, individual results are shown comparedto the Innovator Benchmark.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure relate to systems and methodsfor creating an innovational or entrepreneurial team. Successfulinnovation or entrepreneurship is often driven by individuals with arange of skills. A single individual typically does not possess all ofthese skills, and teams of innovators or entrepreneurs are most likelyto be successful if their members possess complementary skills. Throughresearch and development, questionnaires can be developed to categorizerespondents according to their innovative or entrepreneurial skill sets.Such categorization enables startup founders, enterprises, orcrowdsourcing communities to build innovation or entrepreneurial teamsthat possess the necessary and appropriate skills to attain theirinnovation or entrepreneurial goals.

In exemplary embodiments, a group of participants selected from thegeneral population is tested to determine the participants' capacity forgenerating ideas. For example, participants are asked to generate ideasfor making an everyday object more fun or useful. Each participant'stest results may be scored along two dimensions—a prolificacy scale anda disruption scale. The same group of participants may also be asked toanswer a series of self-descriptive questions relating to traitscommonly associated with innovators, such as curiosity, independentthinking, impatience with the status quo, accomplishment in the visualarts, scientific inquiry or inventions, number of social connections andsocial influence. The participants' answers may be cross-referenced andcorrelated with their respective idea prolificacy and disruption scores.In some embodiments, the self-descriptive questions that correlatehighly with high prolificacy and disruption scores are retained, whilequestions with a low correlation are discarded. The retainedself-descriptive questions may be presented to participants in, forexample, a crowdsourcing community, to identify individuals with a highcapacity for generating novel ideas. A similar method may be utilized toidentify individuals with a high capacity for optimizing ideas,communicating ideas, and popularizing ideas, among others. Aquestionnaire comprising self-descriptive questions selected throughapplication of the above method is presented to respondents, and therespondents' innovation skills are identified based on their answers tothe questionnaires, according to some embodiments. The order ofquestions presented to each respondent may be randomized to eliminateorder bias.

According to various embodiments, a sample of successful innovators andadvisors familiar with innovators are interviewed to determine theinnovators' motivations, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors from theinnovators' point of view. The sample included entrepreneurs, who arefounders or co-founders of a business, and intrapreneurs, who havecreated a new product or business within an existing organization. Basedon results of the interviews and existing academic research, hypothesesregarding the main traits of entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs may begenerated. Questions relating to each of the hypotheses may then begenerated, and an initial survey comprising the generated questions maybe prepared. The initial survey may be fine-tuned by presenting thesurvey to a sample of entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs and determiningthe predictive power of each question.

The survey may be further tested on a large sample that may includeparticipants from various geographical regions in different stages ofeconomic development and with divergent cultures. In some embodiments,the results are analyzed to identify the following: (1) self-descriptivequestions that correlated with objective questions for entrepreneurs,intrapreneurs, and innovation implementers, (2) self-descriptivequestions that best differentiated entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, andinnovation implementers from the general population and from each other,(3) questions that statistically correlated with one another intoclusters that may identify specific skill sets, and (4) how applicationof filters for business results and inventions focuses theentrepreneurial profile. The survey may be further improved byimplementing a second global study.

In some embodiments, a profiler system utilizes survey questions thatelicit responses from individuals in an organization or group. Thequestions are constructed to determine innovation skills of therespondents.

As used herein, “innovation skills” may include an individual's skills(e.g., for, lateral thinking, drawing connections, or for generatingideas, optimizing ideas, communicating ideas, or popularizing ideas),attitudes (e.g., perseverance, confidence), motivations (e.g., desire tochange the world or challenge the status quo), and otherbehavioral/personality traits (e.g., social intelligence, detailorientation, competitiveness, adaptability, or intensity).

According to some embodiments, the present disclosure is directed tosystems and methods that implement and utilize behavioral profiling andactionable feedback loops to identify innovation characteristics ofindividuals in enterprises and organizations. FIG. 1 is a flowchart ofan example method for creating a survey. The method includes a step 105of receiving data indicative of individuals with entrepreneurial andintrapreneurial success, as described above. In general, the method andsystem, in some embodiments, is configured to suggest or create optimalinnovation teams based on behavior profiling and benchmarking acrossvarious skill clusters and sub-clusters. Thus, the method and systemwill produce a more effective innovation team compared to processes thatdo not utilize the behavior profiling and analysis described herein.

The method can be executed within the context of a profiler system. Someaspects of the profiler system are described with reference to FIG. 8.Functional aspects of the profiler system are described throughout thepresent disclosure.

Once the relevant data has been collected with the profiler system, themethod can include a step 110 of calculating an innovation score andskill clusters for each of the individuals. The method can also includea step 115 of establishing innovator benchmark values based on theinnovation score and skill clusters. Again, these benchmark values arecreated based on individuals with entrepreneurial and intrapreneurialsuccess.

In a sub-process, the method can include a step 120 of surveying ageneral population to determine benchmark values for innovation scoresfor the general population.

Thus, each individual analyzed by the profiler system can be comparedagainst an innovation benchmark score for (1) individuals withentrepreneurial and intrapreneurial success; and (2) general populationindividuals.

In various embodiments, a final version of the survey comprisingquestions generated through the above method is presented to employeesof innovating enterprises, prospective members of founding teams, or anyother group to identify each respondent's innovation or entrepreneurialskill sets. This enables founders, investors, and enterprises to buildinnovational or entrepreneurial teams with the appropriate skill sets tomaximize the likelihood of success of innovative endeavors.Additionally, by administering the survey to an existing entrepreneurialteam, investors may be able to determine the likelihood of success ofthe entrepreneurial team and decide whether or not to provide funding tothe team.

In an example embodiment, individuals in an organization are surveyed tocreate innovation profiles. To be sure, while the individuals can befrom an organization, the present disclosure can be used on anypopulation, including in a crowd-based application where individuals inany geographical location can be profiled for their innovationattributes.

In some embodiments, the innovation profile is indicative of aninnovation score for each of the plurality of individuals. Theinnovation score in some instances is a composite of an entrepreneurscore and an intrapreneur score for the individual.

Entrepreneurs are defined as people who found or co-found new businessesoutside of any existing structures. Intrapreneurs are people who createnew products and businesses within existing organizations. Anindividual's survey results show how they score on an overall innovationbenchmark index, as well as their scores on eight skill clusters and 26sub-clusters, in some embodiments.

The individual receives their personal results, along with auser-friendly interpretation guide. The management report is sortable,enabling managers to identify individuals with strengths in a particularskill cluster, to strengthen teams at various stages of the innovationjourney (as illustrated in FIG. 8).

By definition, an entrepreneur score is a mathematical representation ofbehavioral traits of individuals who start or co-found businesses.Within an existing enterprise, these individuals may be best suited toefforts where there is a higher degree of autonomy and financialup-side. Skill clusters associated with an entrepreneur include drive,control, and create. Additional aspects of skill clusters are providedin greater detail infra.

An intrapreneur score is a mathematical representation of behavioraltraits of individuals who create new products and businesses withinexisting organizations. These individuals are well-suited to leadinginternal innovation projects and teams in complex organizationalstructures. Skill clusters associated with an intrepreneur includedisrupt, connect, and think.

An implementer score is a mathematical representation of behavioraltraits of individuals who excels as part of a team implementinginnovations, regardless of whose idea it is. These individuals can takean ambitious challenge, limited direction, and navigate their way to getit done. Skill clusters associated with an implementer include deliverand think.

A champion score is a mathematical representation of behavioral traitsof individuals who helps to drive an innovation culture, and engagesothers in an innovation movement. These individuals are useful fortraining and coaching employees on innovation skills and engaging themin innovation challenges. Skill clusters associated with a championinclude connect and give.

Each of these scores is comprised of various skill clusters and skillclusters are, in turn, comprised of skill sub-clusters. Examples ofskill clusters comprise drive, create, disrupt, control, connect,deliver, think, and give.

In one embodiment, skill clusters associated with drive include ambition(actively looking for problems to solve), initiative (initiates newendeavors more easily and more often than others), intensity (relates tofocus and understanding of problems and how things work, as well asinitiatives to learn new things), and persistence (confidence duringopposition or challenges).

Skill clusters associated with disrupt include boundary breaking,thriving in uncertainty, and self-confidence. Skill clusters associatedwith disrupt include novelty-seeking, problem-solving, uncommonconnections, and growth mindset. Skill clusters associated with connectinclude relating, persuading, team-building, and social intelligence.Skill clusters associated with control include 360-degree involvement,competitiveness, and financial orientation. Skill clusters associatedwith think include information capacity, rapid pattern recognition, andreflection. Skill clusters associated with deliver include contextualgoal-orientation, resourcefulness, and adaptability. Skill clustersassociated with give include benefiting others and making the worldbetter.

The profiler system can provide each individual with a survey thatcomprises questions that solicit information from an individual thatcorrespond to the skill clusters and their corresponding skillsub-clusters. The questions are generated from interviews or surveysobtained from known innovators and entrepreneurs. Thus, themethodologies of the present disclosure can improve or evolve as aknowledge base from innovators and entrepreneurs grows. This informationcan also be used to weight questions within a survey so that questionsrelating to skill sub-clusters that are highly indicative of the skillassociated with the skill clusters/sub-clusters are weighed more heavilythan questions that are less indicative of the skill cluster.

It will be understood that weighting is based on correlation betweeneach question and known innovators with business results. Clustering isa sub-level of the aspect of the present disclosure where the strongestN questions were clustered based on factor analysis, in someembodiments.

An example question related to the skill of deliver includes “I caneasily embrace a new direction if the first direction I've begun is notworking out.” An example question related to the skill of connectincludes “I am able to excite and inspire others with my ideas.” Eachskill will have a plurality of questions that can each be weighted.

These questions are merely exemplary and will be tailored by the datawithin the knowledge base obtained from innovators and entrepreneurs.

To calculate a skill score, the profiler system will sum the weightedvalues determined for each question answered. In some embodiments, theskill score is adjusted using an acquiescence adjustment score “AAS”(multiplying coefficient), which accounts for proclivities of anindividual.

According to some embodiments, generating the innovation profileinvolves providing a plurality of questions to an individual, where eachof the questions comprises a weighting as mentioned above. For eachrole/skill, the profiler system calculates an item score for at least aportion of the plurality of questions by multiplying the item score withthe weighting. Next, the profiler system calculates a total score for askill by summing each of the item scores. In some embodiments, aweighted item score comprises an acquiescence adjustment scoremultiplied by an acquiescence adjustment score factor.

In one embodiment, the profiler system gathers basic information aboutthe respondent's demographics, along with a core of 108 psychographicquestions. The profiler system can include a set number of filler itemsthat are used as decoys.

The AAS measures an individual's degree of acquiescence (“yes-saying” orthe tendency to agree with statements, regardless of their content), atype of response bias that may occur in surveys. The technique adjustsindividual innovation role scores based on responses to several pairs ofquestions where agreement with both items can be consideredcontradictory (e.g., “I like to surround myself with people from diversebackgrounds” versus “I prefer to associate with people who are similarto me . . . ”), taking into account the known proportion of variance inthe overall score that can be explained by the AAS.

Entrepreneur, intrapreneur and the overall innovator scores containitems that are most strongly associated with actual entrepreneurship andintrapreneurship. Items are also assigned weights based on the strengthof their relationship with objective business results. The implementerscore includes items that are most strongly associated with objectivelydefined professional experience around building and operationalizinginnovations (e.g., having worked on implementing someone else's newproduct/service; innovation; having occupied roles in research anddevelopment, new product design, and so forth). Finally, the championscore consists of items that best represent skills around using andbuilding the social/cultural environment that allows innovation toflourish in an organization.

Once innovation profiles have been generated for individuals (one ormany) in an organization or other group (including a crowdimplementation), the innovation profile can be parsed to determineindividuals and groups who are high scoring and/or low scoring by skillclusters/sub-clusters.

Other feedback and/or analyses provided by the profiler system includeidentification of individuals in a team that have low scores on specificskills and skill clusters. The profiler system can then use a feedbackloop to suggest automated, computerized training programs that willassist the individuals in improving their scores in the relevant skillsand skill clusters. In another feedback loop the profiler system canidentify individuals from a remaining pool of individuals in theorganization who have skill and skill cluster scores that excel in therelevant (e.g., low) skill clusters. According to some embodiments, thesystem can maintain and access one or more training libraries thatcomprise training instruction in digital format. Each instance oftraining instruction can be tagged with skill tags that allow thelibrary to be searched for training on at the skill level. For example,if the profiler system determines that an individual is not meeting orexceeding benchmark scores in drive or disrupt skill clusters, thesystem can search the library for training instruction that is taggedwith skill clusters of drive and disrupt and automatically deliver therequired training.

In one embodiment, the granularity of this process is adjustable so thattraining can be provisioned to an individual based on skillsub-clusters. For example, if the system determines that an individualis not benchmarking in persistence, the profiler system can search andretrieve library content on persistence training.

The profiler system can also retest the individual during and aftertraining is complete, in order to re-score the individual and assessimprovement. In some embodiments, when the individual is retested, thesystem will selectively adjust the questions so that the individual ispresented with new questions that test the skill sub-cluster or skillcluster in general. Thus, the profiler system can improve theperformance of an enterprise at the individual level, as well as a teamand/or organization level.

By way of example, the profiler system can select a second portion (oneor more individuals) of the plurality of individuals that can replace aportion of the plurality of individuals having an innovation score thatdoes not meet or exceed an innovator benchmark or general populationscore. The second portion includes individuals that have an innovationscore that meets or exceeds the innovator benchmark and the generalpopulation score. In this method, the profiler system is configured toimprove the composition or makeup of a team, which ensures improvedinnovation performance in the enterprise or organization.

In another embodiment, the profiler system can create an optimalinnovation team that includes a selection of a plurality of individualswith highest innovation scores that cover eight skill clusterscomprising drive, create, disrupt, control, connect, deliver, think, andgive. Thus, the plurality of individuals forms a team that is wellrounded in all relevant skill areas/clusters. Again, the profiler systemcan further tailor the selection of the individuals based on a projecttype and/or innovation stage.

In yet another embodiment, an optimal innovation team is determinedbased on a list of functional skills required for the team as well astheir innovation profiles. For example, the profiler system can build afunctionally-balanced team that also requires innovation skills whichcan be selected from any of the innovation skills described herein.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of an example method of the present disclosure. Inone embodiment a method includes a step 205 of creating database recordsthat comprise an innovation profile for a plurality of individuals in ateam. The innovation profile is generated using the survey processdescribed above. The method includes a step 210 of identifying a portionof the plurality of individuals having an innovation score that does notmeet or exceed an innovator benchmark score or general population score.

The method further comprises a step 215 of generating feedback thatimproves the innovation scores of the portion of the plurality ofindividuals who do not meet or exceed an innovator benchmark score orgeneral population score. Numerous examples of feedback are describedabove in greater detail such as identifying weak skill areas orindividuals in the same organization or population that have skillvalues that meet or exceed the innovator benchmark values. While themethod involves the use of innovator scores, the profiler system canoperate on a more granular level and use skill cluster/skill sub-clustervalues in its analysis.

In some embodiments, the method includes a step 220 of re-evaluating theinnovation profile for the plurality of individuals and a step 225 ofupdating database records with the re-evaluated innovation profiles.

According to some embodiments, the method comprises a step of 230generating a report for a manager of the team when the innovationprofile for the plurality of individuals in the team meets or exceedsthe innovator benchmark score or the general population score. Anexample report is illustrated in FIGS. 6A-7.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of another feedback method of the presentdisclosure that includes a step 305 of identifying one or more of theplurality of individuals with a high innovator score. The profilersystem can then build a team around this entrepreneur by performing astep 310 of receiving a project type or required set of skill clusters.This step defines what type of team is built by the profiler systembased on the defined project or required set of skill clusters. Forexample, the profiler system can receive a request to create a team thatexcels in product development and disruptive innovation. The profilersystem will identify individuals in the organization that meet thesecriteria. These individuals have various skill sets that complement theindividual identified with the high entrepreneur score in someembodiments. In other embodiments, the team can be created without anindividual designated as an entrepreneur within the team. Next, themethod includes a step 315 of selecting individuals from the pluralityof individuals who comprise high skill cluster values relative to theproject type or the set of required skill clusters.

Once these optimal individuals are determined, the method includes astep of 320 placing the selected individuals and the one or more of theplurality of individuals into a team.

In some embodiments, the profiler system is configured to execute amethod of generating an innovation score report for an individual. FIG.4 is a flowchart of an example method of generating an innovation scorereport by a step 405 of receiving a request to display the innovationscore in a browser client. For example, the individual can respond tothe survey questions and request that the profiler system provide themwith a report that is indicative of their innovation skills/scores.

The method includes a step 410 of generating image representations thatinclude the innovation score, the innovator benchmark score, and thegeneral population score, but not displaying the image representationsin the browser client. An example series of representations areillustrated in FIG. 5 as a user interface 500. The interface 500comprises an individual's innovation score 505, a general populationbenchmark 510, and an innovator benchmark 515.

The representations are image files that are generated by the profilersystem and placed into the HTML page in such a way that the individualcannot see the image files (which in some embodiments include graphs)initially.

In some embodiments, the method includes a step of 415 storing theinnovation score, the innovator benchmark score, and the generalpopulation score in a database.

A report is then assembled by a step 420 of obtaining the storedinnovation score, innovator benchmark score, and general populationscore. The report is generated in step 425. The report can then betransmitted to a requesting party in step 430. The requesting party caninclude a supervisor or manager, and in some embodiments the individualwho completed the survey.

FIGS. 6A and 6B collectively illustrate a sample report 600 thatincludes an analysis of skill clusters, skill sub-clusters, sub-clusterscores, skill cluster scores, all arranged into a table format. Thevarious scores are each compared to benchmark values that allow thereader to compare the individual to various benchmark values. Again, thebenchmark values are related to entrepreneurs and/or intrapreneursself-reported or determined skill scores calculated by the profilersystem.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example graph 700 that illustrates an individual'sscores compared against benchmark values. As mentioned above, an“Innovator Benchmark” for each skill cluster is calculated as the medianscore for the top 30% of entrepreneurs. In some embodiments, individualresults are shown compared to the Innovator Benchmark. The graph is aspider web graph 700 that displays an individual's skill scores againstthe Innovator Benchmark for each of the same scores. The spider webgraph 700 provides an easy visual indicator of low scoring skillsrelative to the Innovator Benchmark values.

According to some embodiments, the present disclosure is directed tosystems and methods that implement and utilize behavioral profiling andactionable feedback loops to identify innovation characteristics in acrowd of individuals. These systems and methods have particular utilityin project types where innovation is needed on the front end orinception of a commercial process.

In one embodiment, the system is configured to provide a crowd ofindividuals with a task or project that allows the system to elicitideas. For example, the system can interrogate individuals to provideideas for a new product or to improve the function or usefulness of anexisting product.

Using the answers and responses, the system can utilize one or morealgorithms to calculate a prolifacy score and a disruption score. Theprolifacy score is indicative of the number of ideas generated on a perindividual basis. This raw number can be placed into ranges of scoressuch as 0-5, 6-10, and so forth.

The disruption score is indicative of how disruptive the ideas are. Insome embodiments, the ideas are evaluated by innovation experts, and insome embodiments a crowd review.

In a second aspect of the evaluation, individuals in the crowd arerequired to respond to a survey of questions. The survey includes aseries of self-descriptive questions relating to dimensions commonlyassociated with innovators, such as curiosity, independent thinking,impatience with the status quo, accomplishment in the visual arts,scientific inquiry or inventions, number of social connections andsocial influence. The system can then cross-reference the answers to themost prolific and disruptive individuals to answers on theself-descriptive questions.

In some embodiments, the system is configured to retain self-descriptivequestions with a high correlation among Prolific/Disruptor individuals,and eliminate questions with a low correlation. The system then selectsindividuals from the database to create a group, which is both moreprolific and more disruptive than the general population. The systemcodes these individuals as “Ideators.”

The system can assign one of four roles (or potentially none) to anindividual based on their survey answers.

In some embodiments, the profiler system of the present disclosure canidentify clusters of innovation skills that are tied to specific skilltypes such as ideators, optimizers, visualizers, and influentials. Anideator is a prolific idea creator. When these individuals are pairedwith disruptive thinkers, a large number of relevant and divergent ideascan be produced. Optimizers are individuals who excel at critiquing andimproving products and services. Visualizers are individuals who cangive abstract ideas a concrete form and bring ideas to fruition.Influentials are individuals who are highly networked and consulted forvalued opinions. These individuals are frequently early product adoptersand drive acceptance of new products/technology.

According to some embodiments, the system can tailor or suggest a groupof individuals for a project type based on their assigned roles. Statedotherwise, based on a set of innovation project objectives, the systemcan selectively adjust a group of individuals to consist or comprisedifferent combinations/permutations of individuals with selected skillgroups.

In another application, the system can be configured to determinecompositions of individuals that can be combined into a team or crowd toserve a specific project type such as commercial innovation, incrementalinnovation, and breakthrough innovation. In some embodiments, commercialinnovation can benefit from individuals who are influential andvisualizers. Incremental innovation project types can benefit fromindividuals that are optimizers and breakthrough innovation projecttypes can benefit from individuals who are ideators and visualizers.

In some embodiments, an optimal innovation team that comprises aselection of the plurality of individuals with highest innovation scoresthat cover eight skill clusters comprising drive, create, disrupt,control, connect, deliver, think, and give.

The profiler system can also be configured to select an optimalinnovation team based on a list of innovation skills required for theteam. For example, if it is desired to create a team that is needed fora breakthrough innovation project, the profiler system can locateindividuals with scores that are indicative of being an ideator orvisualizer.

In another embodiment, the optimal innovation team is selected based aninnovation stage selected from front-end ideation, product market fit,and scaling. Thus, the optimal innovation team can be selected based onneeded functional skills, project types, and project timing, as well ascombinations thereof.

FIG. 8 is a screenshot of a matrix that illustrates selection by aprofiler system of an optimal innovation team. The team includesindividuals with high overall innovation scores which are needed to forma new team. Thus, the project type is “new team.” The profiler systemautomatically selects individuals for the team. In one embodiment theteam is comprised of eight individuals, each with high overall scores.Each member has multiple strengths. Each skill cluster has a minimum ofthree team members with high scores. Again, the profiler system canidentify these individuals from their behavior profiles stored in thedatabase, where the behavior profiles have been constructed inaccordance with the methodologies described above.

In some embodiments, the profiler system automatically selects theindividuals for the team and highlights the individuals selected withinthe UI, such as with boxes 802 and 804. For reference, the profilersystem can also highlight individual skill cluster and sub-clusterscores that were utilized and the basis for determining the permutationof individual selected for the team. For example, the system canhighlight skill cluster value cells, such as cell 806, with a secondcolor.

The reports can be generated each time an individual in an organizationcompletes a survey. In other embodiments, a report is delivered to amanager or owner of the organization when an individual does not meet orexceed a benchmark innovation value. In one embodiment, the organizationcan use the survey and scoring methodologies in employment hiring ororganizational development. For example, if the organization needs tohire for a critical innovation role, the profiler system can survey andscore employment candidates and compare the skill clusters,sub-clusters, and innovation scores to a job profile. In this instance,the job profile at least includes a behavior profile that defines a setof skill clusters/sub-clusters that are desired for the position. Thus,rather than evaluating candidates based on typical hiring criteria, theprofiler system can allow the organization to hire an individual basedon their innovation profile. To be sure, the process can also integratetraditional candidate profiling techniques that would be known to one inthe art.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of an example method that includes acrowd-specific embodiment of the present disclosure. The method includesa step 905 of providing an innovation profile assessment to a pluralityof individuals accessible through a web browser interface. Next, themethod includes a step 910 of creating database records that comprise aninnovation profile for the plurality of individuals. To be sure, theinnovation profile is indicative of a degree to which an individual isprolific and disruptive idea generator.

According to some embodiments, the method includes a step 915 ofassigning to an individual a role selected from ideator, optimizer,visualizer, and influential, based on the innovation profile.

In some embodiments, the method includes a process 920 of generating ateam from individuals of the plurality of individuals by a step 925 ofreceiving a project type selected from commercial innovation,incremental innovation, and breakthrough innovation. In one embodiment,the project type is associated with innovation skill groups. Someembodiments include a step 930 of automatically selecting the team bymatching roles assigned to the individuals against the innovation skillgroups of the project type by querying the database records.

FIG. 10 is a diagrammatic representation of an example machine in theform of a computer system 1, within which a set of instructions forcausing the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein may be executed. In various example embodiments, themachine operates as a standalone device or may be connected (e.g.,networked) to other machines. In a networked deployment, the machine mayoperate in the capacity of a server or a client machine in aserver-client network environment, or as a peer machine in apeer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. The machine may be arobotic construction marking device, a base station, a personal computer(PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a personal digital assistant(PDA), a cellular telephone, a portable music player (e.g., a portablehard drive audio device such as an Moving Picture Experts Group AudioLayer 3 (MP3) player), a web appliance, a network router, switch orbridge, or any machine capable of executing a set of instructions(sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by thatmachine. Further, while only a single machine is illustrated, the term“machine” shall also be taken to include any collection of machines thatindividually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructionsto perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.

The example computer system 1 includes a processor or multipleprocessors 5 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphicsprocessing unit (GPU), or both), and a main memory 10 and static memory15, which communicate with each other via a bus 20. The computer system1 may further include a video display 35 (e.g., a liquid crystal display(LCD)). The computer system 1 may also include an alpha-numeric inputdevice(s) 30 (e.g., a keyboard), a cursor control device (e.g., amouse), a voice recognition or biometric verification unit (not shown),a drive unit 37 (also referred to as disk drive unit), a signalgeneration device 40 (e.g., a speaker), and a network interface device45. The computer system 1 may further include a data encryption module(not shown) to encrypt data.

The drive unit 37 includes a computer or machine-readable medium 50 onwhich is stored one or more sets of instructions and data structures(e.g., instructions 55) embodying or utilizing any one or more of themethodologies or functions described herein. The instructions 55 mayalso reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 10and/or within the processors 5 during execution thereof by the computersystem 1. The main memory 10 and the processors 5 may also constitutemachine-readable media.

The instructions 55 may further be transmitted or received over anetwork via the network interface device 45 utilizing any one of anumber of well-known transfer protocols (e.g., Hyper Text TransferProtocol (HTTP)). While the machine-readable medium 50 is shown in anexample embodiment to be a single medium, the term “computer-readablemedium” should be taken to include a single medium or multiple media(e.g., a centralized or distributed database and/or associated cachesand servers) that store the one or more sets of instructions. The term“computer-readable medium” shall also be taken to include any mediumthat is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying a set of instructionsfor execution by the machine and that causes the machine to perform anyone or more of the methodologies of the present application, or that iscapable of storing, encoding, or carrying data structures utilized by orassociated with such a set of instructions. The term “computer-readablemedium” shall accordingly be taken to include, but not be limited to,solid-state memories, optical and magnetic media, and carrier wavesignals. Such media may also include, without limitation, hard disks,floppy disks, flash memory cards, digital video disks, random accessmemory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), and the like. The exampleembodiments described herein may be implemented in an operatingenvironment comprising software installed on a computer, in hardware, orin a combination of software and hardware.

Not all components of the computer system 1 are required and thusportions of the computer system 1 can be removed if not needed, such asInput/Output (I/O) devices (e.g., input device(s) 30). One skilled inthe art will recognize that the Internet service may be configured toprovide Internet access to one or more computing devices that arecoupled to the Internet service, and that the computing devices mayinclude one or more processors, buses, memory devices, display devices,input/output devices, and the like. Furthermore, those skilled in theart may appreciate that the Internet service may be coupled to one ormore databases, repositories, servers, and the like, which may beutilized in order to implement any of the embodiments of the disclosureas described herein.

The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of allmeans or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended toinclude any structure, material, or act for performing the function incombination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed. Thedescription of the present technology has been presented for purposes ofillustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive orlimited to the present technology in the form disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the presenttechnology. Exemplary embodiments were chosen and described in order tobest explain the principles of the present technology and its practicalapplication, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art tounderstand the present technology for various embodiments with variousmodifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.

Aspects of the present technology are described above with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of thepresent technology. It will be understood that each block of theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations ofblocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can beimplemented by computer program instructions. These computer programinstructions may be provided to a processor of a general purposecomputer, special purpose computer, or other programmable dataprocessing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions,which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmabledata processing apparatus, create means for implementing thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computerreadable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable dataprocessing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readablemedium produce an article of manufacture including instructions whichimplement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer,other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to causea series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, otherprogrammable apparatus or other devices to produce a computerimplemented process such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer or other programmable apparatus provide processes forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present technology. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof code, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be notedthat, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in theblock may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, twoblocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantiallyconcurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverseorder, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be notedthat each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, andcombinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchartillustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-basedsystems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations ofspecial purpose hardware and computer instructions.

In the following description, for purposes of explanation and notlimitation, specific details are set forth, such as particularembodiments, procedures, techniques, etc. in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the present invention. However, it will be apparent toone skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced inother embodiments that depart from these specific details.

Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment” or “anembodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, orcharacteristic described in connection with the embodiment is includedin at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, theappearances of the phrases in “one embodiment” or in “an embodiment” or“according to one embodiment” (or other phrases having similar import)at various places throughout this specification are not necessarily allreferring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features,structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner inone or more embodiments. Furthermore, depending on the context ofdiscussion herein, a singular term may include its plural forms and aplural term may include its singular form. Similarly, a hyphenated term(e.g., “on-demand”) may be occasionally interchangeably used with itsnon-hyphenated version (e.g., “on demand”), a capitalized entry (e.g.,“Software”) may be interchangeably used with its non-capitalized version(e.g., “software”), a plural term may be indicated with or without anapostrophe (e.g., PE's or PEs), and an italicized term (e.g., “N+1”) maybe interchangeably used with its non-italicized version (e.g., “N+1”).Such occasional interchangeable uses shall not be consideredinconsistent with each other.

Also, some embodiments may be described in terms of “means for”performing a task or set of tasks. It will be understood that a “meansfor” may be expressed herein in terms of a structure, such as aprocessor, a memory, an I/O device such as a camera, or combinationsthereof. Alternatively, the “means for” may include an algorithm that isdescriptive of a function or method step, while in yet other embodimentsthe “means for” is expressed in terms of a mathematical formula, prose,or as a flow chart or signal diagram.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Asused herein, the singular forms “a”, an and the are intended to includethe plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify thepresence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements,and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements,components, and/or groups thereof.

It is noted that the terms “coupled,” “connected”, “connecting,”“electrically connected,” etc., are used interchangeably herein togenerally refer to the condition of being electrically/electronicallyconnected. Similarly, a first entity is considered to be in“communication” with a second entity (or entities) when the first entityelectrically sends and/or receives (whether through wireline or wirelessmeans) information signals (whether containing data information ornon-data/control information) to the second entity regardless of thetype (analog or digital) of those signals. It is further noted thatvarious figures (including component diagrams) shown and discussedherein are for illustrative purpose only, and are not drawn to scale.

If any disclosures are incorporated herein by reference and suchincorporated disclosures conflict in part and/or in whole with thepresent disclosure, then to the extent of conflict, and/or broaderdisclosure, and/or broader definition of terms, the present disclosurecontrols. If such incorporated disclosures conflict in part and/or inwhole with one another, then to the extent of conflict, the later-dateddisclosure controls.

The terminology used herein can imply direct or indirect, full orpartial, temporary or permanent, immediate or delayed, synchronous orasynchronous, action or inaction. For example, when an element isreferred to as being “on,” “connected” or “coupled” to another element,then the element can be directly on, connected or coupled to the otherelement and/or intervening elements may be present, including indirectand/or direct variants. In contrast, when an element is referred to asbeing “directly connected” or “directly coupled” to another element,there are no intervening elements present. The description herein isillustrative and not restrictive. Many variations of the technology willbecome apparent to those of skill in the art upon review of thisdisclosure. For example, the technology is not limited to use forstopping email threats, but applies to any messaging threats includingemail, social media, instant messaging, and chat.

While various embodiments have been described above, it should beunderstood that they have been presented by way of example only, and notlimitation. The descriptions are not intended to limit the scope of theinvention to the particular forms set forth herein. To the contrary, thepresent descriptions are intended to cover such alternatives,modifications, and equivalents as may be included within the spirit andscope of the invention as defined by the appended claims and otherwiseappreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art. Thus, the breadth andscope of a preferred embodiment should not be limited by any of theabove-described exemplary embodiments.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: providing an innovation profile assessment to a plurality of individuals, through a web browser interface, to produce, for each individual, an innovation profile; assigning to each said individual an innovation type, the innovation type based on skills identified within the innovation profile; creating, using a processor of a computer system, a database record for each said individual, the database record including their innovation profile and their innovation type, each database record for each said individual stored in a main memory of the computer system; and automatically creating an optimal innovation team of a number of individuals from the plurality of individuals, the team including individuals possessing complementary skills groups, wherein creating the team includes receiving a required set of skills groups associated with a project type, and matching skills of the individuals against the required set of skills by querying the database records.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the innovation type assigned to each individual is selected from the group consisting of Optimizer, Energizer, Explorer and Transformer.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein the individuals of the team each have the same innovation type. 